Early Mesoamerica

1. Early
Civiliza+ons
in
Mesoamerica
Henry
Lesperance
Alvarez
1

2. Major
Mesoamerican
Civiliza+ons
• The
Olmec
1200
B.C.
to
400
B.C.
• Teo+huacan
100
A.D.
to
650
A.D.
• The
Mayan
250
A.D.
to
900
A.D.
• The
Toltec
900
A.D.
to
1200
A.D.
• The
Aztec
1300
A.D.
to
1521
A.D.

3. 3

4. 4

5.
Mesoamerica
5

6. CRITERIA
MANIFISTATION
PERIOD
DATE
PaNern
of
Sedentary
PRECLASSIC
EARLY
2500
B.C.
Subsistence
Agricultural
Produc+on
Rela+on
Social
Stra+fica+on
PRECLASSIC
MIDDLE
1200
B.C.
Regional
Economic
Powerful
Capitals
PRECLASSIC
LATE
400
B.C.
&
Poli+cal
Rela+ons
Dis+nc+on
between
Urbanism
CLASSIC
EARLY
150/200
A.D.
City
and
Fields
Intraregional
Decline
of
Large
CLASSIC
LATE
650
A.D.
Economic
and
Hegemonic
States
Poli+cal
Rela+ons
and
Prolifera+on
of
Regional
Capitals
Hegemonic
Poli+cal
Forma+on
of
POSTCLASSIC
EARLY
900
A.D.
Rela+ons
Alliances
Among
States
Poli+cal
Rela+ons
of
End
of
Alliances
POSTCLASSIC
LATE
1200
A.D.
Central
Control
End
of
Mesoamerica
Conquist
COLONIAL
1521
A.D.
6

7. Na+ve
Language
Groups
of
Mexico
at
the
+me
of
the
Spanish
Conquest
7

8. Prehispanic
Trading
Routes
8

10. Casas
Grandes
and
the
Northern
Trade
Route
• Central
to
any
interac+on
with
the
southwest
during
this
period
would
have
been
Casas
Grandes,
Chihuahua,
not
far
south
of
the
border
with
New
Mexico.

11. Casas
Grandes,
(Chihuahua)
• Warehouses
filled
with
rare
Southwestern
minerals,
such
as
turquoise,
were
found
at
the
site.
A
substan+al
amount
of
these
must
have
found
its
way
south,
where
turquoise
grow
in
importance
for
the
Tarascans
and
other
Mesoamericans.

12. What
Traveled
North?
• The
Pueblo
Indians
have
a
deep
ritual
need
for
feathers
from
tropical
birds
like
parrots
and
macaws,
since
they
symbolize
fer+lity
and
the
heat
of
the
summer
sun.
Codex
Mendoza

13. The
World
System
in
1519
• Mesoamerica
was
an
interconnected
world
that
was
integrated
and
in
which
events
taking
place
in
one
social
unit
affected
those
in
another
over
an
extended
region.

14. 14

15. Olmec
Archeological
Sites
15

16. The
Olmec
1200
B.C.
to
400
B.C.
• The
mysterious
“rubber
people”
describe
by
the
Aztec
informants
as
inhabi+ng
jungle
country
of
the
Gulf
Coast;
Thus
the
name
became
established.
• All
later
civiliza+ons
in
Mesoamerica,
whether
Mexican
or
Maya,
ul+mately
rest
on
the
Olmec
base
16

17. • While
linguis+c
diversity
and
regional
varia+ons
persisted,
common
cultural
elements
can
be
traced
back
to
the
Olmec
civiliza+on.
• They
include
polytheis+c
religions
in
which
dei+es
had
dual
(male/female)
natures,
• Rulers
who
exercised
both
secular
and
religious
roles,
• Use
of
warfare
for
obtaining
sacrificial
vic+ms,
• And
the
belief
that
bloodlehng
was
necessary
for
a
society’s
survival
and
prosperity.
17

18. • The
use
of
ritual
as
well
as
solar
calendars,
• The
construc+on
of
monumental
architecture
including
pyramids,
• The
employment
of
a
numerical
system
that
used
twenty
as
its
base,
• Emphasis
on
a
Jaguar
deity,
• And
the
ubiquity
of
ball
courts
in
which
a
game
using
a
solid
rubber
ball
was
played
were
addi+onal
characteris+cs
of
complex
Mesoamerican
socie+es.
18

19. Ball
Game
• In
el
Mana+,
rubber
balls
found
confirm
that
the
ball
game
is
at
least
as
old
as
the
Olmec
civiliza+on
19

20. Olmec
Were-­‐Jaguar
20

21. La
Venta
21

22. Stela
C,
Tres
Zapotes
22

23. San
Lorenzo
23

24. 24

25. 25

26. 26

27. Teo+huacan
100
A.D.
to
650
A.D.
• It
may
have
housed
more
than
150,000
inhabitants,
making
it
the
largest
city
in
the
world-­‐-­‐outside
of
China.
• Following
the
decline
of
the
Olmecs
the
city
of
Teo+huacan
exercised
enormous
influence
in
the
development
and
spread
of
Mesoamerican
culture.
27

28. Teo+huacán
“City
of
the
Gods”
28

29. Piramide
del
Sol
29

30. Piramide
de
La
Luna
30

31. Templo
de
Quetzalcoatl
31

32. 32

33. Palacio
de
Te+tla
33

34. Decora+on
Found
in
the
Palace
34

35. 35

36. Teo+huacano
Worrier
36

37. 37

38. Vaso
Ceremonial
Teo+huacan
38

39. 39